
c-opya, 



MEMOIRS 



4 » 



OF 



v&HSTHIBMb A-SnDSMW 3&j9W&<®&, 

TBJJETHER WITH THJB 

Better of mr. secretary adams, 

IX VINDICATION OP THE EXECUTION 01? 

mfiittfinot anb %mhti$tct, 

A5D THE OTHER 

PUBLIC ACTS 
OF GEN. JACKSON, IN FLORIDA, 



mk 



BMDGETON, JV. J. 

PRINTED BY SIMEON SIEGFRIED. 

1824, 






NOTE- 

THE following sketches of General JACKS W art 

career, has > ™l g ,™%™Z n \ r Jly distinguished. General 
tn this W'^^Jm^Jm t1e Cinmtnatus of America: 
Jackson may with ^^^^ refused an office, and who, 

*^i^^ retired 

to private life, to enjoy the sweets of tranquillity. 
notion. 



SfHBSiKDmBS 



OF 



Gen. Andrew Jackson 



The father of general Jackson emigrated from Ireland in 
1765, and settled his family at Waxsaw, now the district of 
Marion, in South Carolina ; his son Andrew was born the 15th 
March, 1767 ; and at the close of that year the father died, 
leaving his wife and children, Hugh, Robert, and Andrew, in 
possession of a small estate. 

The subject of these memoirs, being the youngest son, was 
early destined by the mother for the ministry ; and at Wax- 
saw there was an academy, under the instruction of a well 
educated gentleman. At this school Andrew pursued classic 
and the other higher branches of education, until the age of 
fourteen, when the approach of the English army dispersed 
the Waxsaw school, and Andrew, with his brother Robert, 
entered the army of freedom. Hugh, the oldest brother, fell 
a victim at the battle of Stono, fighting for the same cause. A 
band of tories and English dragoons attacked those who had 
embodied themselves at Waxsaw, and Andrew and his broth- 
er were made prisoners. Here an incident occurred that de- 
veloped the future character. A British officer directed An- 
drew to clean his boots. The boy refused, and said — "I am 
a prisoner of war, and demand treatment as such." The offi- 
cer made a pass at him with his sabre, which was parried by 
Andrew's hand, which received a deep wound. Robert also 
received a deep wound in the head soon after he was made a 
prisoner. The two brothers were put in prison, confined iu 
separate apartments, and their wounds suffered to remain un- 
dressed. They were soon after exchanged ; but Robert quick- 
ly sunk under his wound. The mother, disconsolate and over- 
come with suffering, in a short time took her flight to join her 
departed family in eternity. 

Two years thereafter young Jackson resumed his literary 
pursuits ; which he continued until the age of eighteen, when 
he commenced the study of law in North-Carolina ; and in 
1786 he entered upon the practice of his profession in the 
twentieth year of his age. 



In the year ifSf he emigrated to the then south west terri- 
tory of the United States, and now the state of Tennessee, 
where, from that time up to the year 1812, he held the various 
offices of Attorney General — member of the Convention that 
formed the constitution of that state — member of Congress — 
Senator of the U. States — Judge of the Supreme Court of 
Tennessee, and afterwards the office of Major General of the 
Militia of the state. This continued succession of offices 
which he filled, show the high character which he sustained in 
Tennessee, although his name was hardly known in the north- 
ern and eastern parts of the United States. 

In June, 1812, the United States declared war against Bri- 
tain, and in that year an act authorized the raising of fifty 
thousand volunteers to serve one year. Within two years, 
and from the date of this act, commenced the great military 
career of Gen. Jackson. He addressed the sons of Tennes- 
see, and in a short time twenty-five hundred joined his stand- 
ard. Their services were tendered to government in Nov. 
1812 j and, shortly after, they were ordered to descend the 
Ohio and Mississippi, to guard the lower states of our coun- 
try ; and, in January they encamped at Natchez, three hun- 
dred miles above New-Orleans. Here, strange to relate, Gen. 
Jackson received an order from Gen. Armstrong, then Secre- 
tary at War, to disband his troops, and deliver his commissa- 
Sary department to Gen. Wilkinson. These volunteers were 
five hundred miles from home, and they had to countermarch 
through a wilderness. Gen. Jackson disobeyed the govern- 
ment! for to have obeyed would have been to destroy his men. 
He dismissed his men, and directed them to take the commis- 
sary department along ivith tliem. 

The English government, at the commencement of the late 
war, turned their attention to the Indians of Florida, and the 
neighboring tribes, who were soon excited to acts of hostility 
against the United States. These tribes were much more au- 
inerous than was generally supposed, and in time of war were 
capable of becoming powerful allies to a foreign foe. Such 
they were to the English at the commencement of hostilities. 
A simultaneous attack was planned by the Creeks and other 
tribes on the frontier settlements of Georgia, Tennessee and 
Mississipppi ; and the bloody drama was commenced hy butch- 
ering the garrison of Fort Minims, at Tcnsaw, in the state of 
Mississippi, in which men, women and children, to the num- 
ber of 400, were slaughtered. Here let it be remembered, that 
the war against the Indians was carried on by the states of 
Georgia and Tennessee, for self-defence, with but little aid 
from the general government. The troops employed were mi- 



5. 

litia and volunteers ; and the scene of action embraced a coun- 
try nearly as large as the whole of New-England. The cont- 
missary department of Jackson's army was miserably sup- 
plied, from the defect of arrangement on the part of govern- 
ment. The time of service of the volunteers had nearly ex- 
pired. The Indians were embodied in different places, for 
the purpose of failing on the frontier inhabitants at every 
point. The army of Jackson was too small to be divided, 
and it bad often to contend against superior strength. Thus 
>situated, the army of the General, by forced inarches and 
counter-marches fought the battler; of Littafutcb.es, Tallushati 
ches, Talladega, Eccanacha, Emuckfaw, Enotachopco, and 
Tohopeka. 

This last battle decided the fate of the war ; and General 
Jackson, emaciated by long and continued fatigue, and una- 
bated exertion, with his army at one time reduced to less than 
a battallion by the expiration of the period of service of the 
volunteers, thought of retiring to his own villa on the banks 
of the Cumberland, to regain bis wonted health and vigor, 
when be received a commission, in June 1814, of Brigadier 
General in the army of the United States, and one of the 
Commissioners to conclude a treaty with the Creek Indians. 

We now meet Gen. Jackson in a new capacity ; he had hith- 
erto been the commander of the militia of his own State, and 
the volunteers who joined him. The achievments which he 
accomplished gained the confidence of the general government, 
and he was raised to the office of Brigadier General of the 
United States. 

New duties then devolved upon Andrew Jackson, in t he- 
execution of which, he has elevated his name to the 1 summit 
of fame, and his exploits will be enrolled in the pages of im- 
mortality. 

At this period, the commander of Fensacola, Gov. Maure- 
qez, who bad aided the English and Indians, in carrying on 
the war with the United States, was addressed by Gen. Jack- 
son on" the subject ; Monrequez attempted to evade the sub- 
ject by the usual course of diplomacy and intrigue. The re- 
publican, the political, and the military character of Gen. 
Jackson, is fully exhibited in his last letter to Maurequez, as 
follows : 

"Were I clothed, says the general, with diplomatic pow- 
ers, for the purpose of discussing the topics embraced in the 
wide range of injuries of which you complain, and which have 
long since been adjusted, I could easily demonstrate that the 
United States have been always faithful to their treaties ; 
Steadfast in their friendships ; nor have ever claimed any thing 



6 

liiat was not warranted by justice. Tliey have endured many 
insults from the governors and other officers of Spain, which, 
if sanctioned by their sovereign, amounted to acts of war, 
without any previous declaration on the subject. They have 
excited the savages to war, and afforded them the means of 
waging it. The property of our citizens has been captured 
at sea, and if compensation lias not been refused, it has at least 
been withheld. But as no such powers have been delegated 
to me. I shall not assume them, but leave them to the repre- 
sentatives of our respective governments. 

'• I have the honor of being entrusted with the command of 
this district. Charged with its protection, and the safety of 
its citizens, I feel my ability to discharge the task, and trust 
your excellency will always find me ready and willing to go 
forward! in the performance of that duty, whenever circum- 
stances shall render it necessary. I agree with you, perfect- 
ly, that candour and polite language should, at all times, char- 
acterize the commu'iications between the officers of friendly 
sovereignties; and I assert, without the fear of contradiction, 
that my former letters were couched in terms the most re- 
spectful and unexceptionable. I only requested, and did not 
demand, as you asserted, the ringleaders of the Creek confed- 
eracy, who had taken refuge in your town, and who had vio- 
lated ali laws, moral, civil, and divine. This I had a right to 
do, from the treaty which I sent you, and which I now again 
enclose, with a request that you will change your translation : 
believing, as I do, that your former one was wrong, and has 
deceive;! you. 

" What kind of an answer you returned, a reference to your 
letter will explain. The whole of it breathed nothing but hos- 
tility, grounded upon assumed facts, and false charges, and en- 
tirely evading the inquiries that had been made. 

'• I can bat express my astonishment at your protest against 
the cession on the Alabama lying within the acknowledged 
jurisdiction of the United States, and which has been ratified, 
ie form, by the principal chiefs and warriors of the nation. 
But my astonishment subsides, when, on comparing it, I find 
ft upon a par with the rest of your letter and conduct $ taken 
'•:•• they afford a sunjciefit justification for any conso- 
les that may ensue. My government will protect every 
»f her territory, her citizens, and her property, from in- 
i i depredation, regardless of the political revolutions of 
Europe: and although site has been at a>l times sedulous to 
rvc a good understanding with all the world, yet she 
bus sacml rights, that cannot be trampled upon with impuni- 
ty. Spahj had better look to her own intestine commotions, 



before she walks forth in that majesty of strength antl power 1 , 
which you threaten to draw down upon the United States. 
Your excellency has been candid enough to admit your hav- 
ing supplied the Indians with arms. In addition to this, I 
have learned that a British flag has been seen fl.ving on one of 
your forts. All this is done whilst you are pretending to he 
neutral. 

" You cannot be surprised, then, but on the contrary will 
provide a fort in your town, for my soldiers and Indians, 
should I take it in my head to pay you a visit. 

" In future, I beg you to withhold your insulting charges 
against my government, for one more inclined to listen to 
slander than I am ; nor consider me any more a diplomatic 
character, unless so proclaimed to you from the mouths of my 
cannon." 

At this time, in the year 1814, Gen. Jackson was raised to 
the rank of Major General in the army of the United States, 
and commander of the 7th Military District. This district 
included the most Southern part of the United States. At 
this time the English rendezvoused at Pensacola, and were 
aided by the Spanish Governor — Jackson knew it; and the 
limits of this memoir will permit us only to say, that Jackson 
went to Pensacola, and drove the British away. This act 
protected Mobile and the surrounding country. 

The defence of New-Orleans now attracted the attention of 
the nation. The English victories of Waterloo, turned their 
attention to the war in America ; two large armies were form- 
ed to make a descent upon the country ; the one at the north, 
and the other upon New-Orleans. 

"At no period since the declaration of American Indepen- 
dence, in July, 1770, to December, 1814, had an American 
commander a duty of more importance and difficulty to dis- 
charge, than had General Jackson at this portentous period. 
At Mobile, with means apparently wholly insufficient, (to use 
his own language,) he had " a sickly climate, as well as an 
enemy to contend with." At New-Orleans, he had to contend 
with the consternation of the citizens, the insolence of judicial 
power, and the timorous policy of the legislature of Louisi- 
ana; as well as against the most powerful land and naval 
force, that had, for forty years, menaced any one place in the 
Republic. He had also to contend with the prejudices, the fa- 
voritism, and the perfidiousness of foreigners, a vast number 
of whom had migrated to Louisiana before its cession to the 
Republic, by Mr. Monroe's treaty." 

Gov. Claiborne, who then presided over the state of Louis- 
iana, in addressing himself to Gen. Jackson, thus expresses 
Mmself: 



(i There is in this city a much greater spirit of disaffection* 
than I had anticipated; and among the faithful Louisianians, 
these is a despondency which palsies all my preparations? 
they sec no strong regular force, around which they could ral- 
ly with confidence, and they seem to think themselves not 
within the reach of scasonahlc assistance, from the western 
slates. I am assured, Sir, you will make the most judicious 
dispositions of the forces under your command; hut excuse 
me for suggesting, that the presence of the seventh regiment, 
at or near New-Orleans, will have the most salutary effect. 
The garrison here at present, is alarmingly weak, and is a 
cause of much regret : from the great mixture of persons, and 
characters, in this city, we have as much to apprehend from 
within as from without. In arresting the intercourse hetvvcen 
3$ew- Orleans and Pensacola you have done right. Pensacola, 
is in fact, an enemy's post, and had our commercial inter- 
course with it continued, the supplies furnished to the enemy, 
would have so much exhausted our own stock of provisions, 
as to have occasioned the most serious inconvenience to our- 
selves. 

'■* I was on the point of taking on myself the prohibition of 
the trade with Pensacola; I had prepared a proclamation to 
that effect, and would have issued it the very day I heard of 
your interposition. Enemies to the country, may blame you 
for your prompt and energetic measures ; hut, in the person of 
every patriot you will find a supporter. I am very confident 
Off t!ic very lax ppitce of tin's city, and indeed, throughout the 
state, with respect to the visits of strangers. I think with 
you, that our country is filled with spies and traitors. I have 
written pressingly on the subject, to the city authorities and 
parish judges— I hope some efficient regulations will speedily 
be adopted by the first, and more vigilance exerted for the fu- 
ture, by the latter." 

In the third letter, the governor observes — "The only diffi- 
culty I have hitherto experience:!, in meeting the requisition, 
has been in this city, and exclusively from some European 
Frenchmen, who, after giving their adhesion to Louis XVTIL 
ha\e, through the medium of the French consul, claimed ex- 
emption from the drafts, as French subjects. The question 
of exemption, however, is now under discussion, before a spe- 
cial court of inquiry, and i am not without hopes, that these 
ungrateful men, nifty yet be brought to a discharge of their 
duties. 

You have been informed of the contents of an intercepted 
Setter, written by Col. boliel, a Spanish officer, to Capt. Mo- 
rales, of Pensacola. This letter was submitted for the ojrin* 



ion of the attorney general of the state, as to the measures to 
be pursued against the writer. The attorney general was of 
opinion, that the courts could take no cognizance of the same j 
but that the governor might order the writer to leave the 
state, and in case of refusal, to send him off by force. I ac- 
cordingly, sir, ordered Col. Coliel to take his departure, in 
forty-eight hours, for Pensacola, and gave him the necessary 
passports. I hope this measure may meet your approbation. 
It is a just retaliation for the conduct lately observed hy the 
governor of Pensacola, and may induce the Spaniards resid- 
ing among us, to be less communicative upon those subjects 
which relate to our military movements." 

In another letter, this patriotic chief-magistrate says to Gen. 
Jackson, "If Louisiana is invaded, I shall put myself at the 
head of such of my militia as will follow me to the field, and 
on receiving, shall obey your orders." It will be remembered, 
that the venerable Gov. Shelby, of Kentucky, served under 
Maj. Gen. Harrison, when he obtained his signal victory over 
Gen. Proctor. In addition to this explicit evidence, furnish- 
ed by Gov. Claiborne, Charles K. Bianchard, Esq. writes to 
Gen. Jackson, thus — "Quarter- Master Peddie, of the British 
army, observed [to me,] that the commanding officers of the 
British forces, were daily in the receipt of every information 
from the city of New-Orleans, which they might require in. 
aid of their operations, for the completion of the objects of the 
expedition ; — that they were perfectly acquainted With the 
situation of every part of our forces, the manner in Which the 
same was situated, the number of our fortifications, their 
strength, position, &c. He furthermore stated, that the above 
information was received from persons in the city of New- 
Orleans, from whom he could, at any Jiour, procure every in- 
formation necessary to promote his majesty's interest ! !" 

** We have been thus particular in describing the situation 
in which Gen. Jackson found the citizens of Louisiana, its 
legislature, and its capital, upon his arrival there, early in 
December, 1814, because it induced, and indeed, compelled 
him to resort to a measure which had never before been resort? 
ed to in the Republic, since the adoption of the Constitution : 

■ — THE DECLARATION OF MARTIAL LAW. This took place 

on the 16th of the month, twenty-three days before the splen- 
did victory, which secured the city of New-Orleans and the 
states bordering upon the Mississippi, from the rapacity of an 
enemy, whose principles of warfare had been demonstrated^ 
upon the western frontier, at Havre-de-Grace, at Hampton, 
find at Washington !" 

B 



The splendid events of the defence of New-Orleans, by Gen- 
eral Jackson, arc too fresh in the recollection of the present 
agei to require a minute recapitulation. The glory of the 8th 
of January will forever be remembered ; and the tender feel- 
ings of Jackson, as evinced in his letters to the then Secretary 
at War, Mr. Monroe, show that he is something more than a 
military hero. He expresses himself, in effect, as follows : — 
" It is my business to defend — I have freemen for my soldiers, 
and their lives are too valuable to be thrown away for the 
mere acquisition of military fame." That Gen. Jackson acted 
upon these principles is obvious, when we call to mind the 
fact, that in the various actions that took place before New- 
Orleans, from the 20th of December, 1814, up to the 8th of 
January, 1815, the English lost more than four thousand men, 
whilst the American loss did not exceed four hundred. 

General Jackson's Address, after the final retreat of the 
English, speaks volumes, and is as follows: 

ADDRESS, 
Directed by Maj. Geo. Jackson, to be read at the head of each 
of the corps composing the line below New-Orleans, Jan- 
uary 21, 1815. 

Citizens, and fellow soldiers ! The enemy has retreated, 
and your general has now leisure to proclaim to the world 
what he has noticed with admiration and pride — your un- 
daunted courage, your patriotism, and patience, under hard- 
ships and fatigues. Natives of different states, acting together 
for the first time in this camp; differing in habits and in lan- 
guage, instead of viewing in these circumstances, the germ of 
distrust awl division, you have made them the source of an 
honourable emulation, and from the seeds of discord itself, 
have reaped the fruits of an honourable union. This day 
completes the fourth week, since fifteen hundred of you attack- 
ed treble your number of men, who had boasted of their dis- 
cipline and their services under a celebrated leader, in a long 
and eventful war — attacked them in their camp, the moment 
they had profaned the soil of freedom with their hostile tread, 
and inflicted a blow which was a prelude to the final result 
of their attempt to conquer, or their poor contrivances to di- 
vide us. A few hours was sufficient to unite the gallant hand, 
though at the moment they received the welcome order to 
march, they were separated many leagues, in different direc- 
tions from the city. The gay rapidity of the march, and the 
Cheerful countenances of the officers and men, would have in- 
duced a belief that some festive entertainment, not the strife 
of battle, was the scene to which they hastened with so much 
eagerness and hilarity. In the conflict that ensued, tliG same 



11 

spirit was supported, and my communications, to the executive 
of the U. States, have testified the sense I entertained of the 
merits of the corps and officers that were engaged. Resting 
on the field of hattle, they retired in perfect order on the next 
morning to these lines, destined to become the scene of future 
victories which they were to share with the rest of you, my 
brave companions in arms. Scarcely were your lines a pro- 
tection against musket shot, when on the 28th, a disposition 
was made to attack them, with all the pomp and parade of 
military tactics, as improved by those veterans of the Spanish 
war. 

Their batteries of heavy cannon kept up an incessant fire ; 
their rockets illuminated the air ', and under their cover, two 
strong columns threatened our flanks. The foe insolently 
thought that this spectacle was too imposing to be resisted, 
and in the intoxication of his pride, he already saw our lines 
abandoned without a contest — how were these menacing ap- 
pearances met? By shouts of defiance, by a manly counte- 
nance, not to be shaken by the roar of his cannon, or by the 
glare of his firework rockets: by an artillery served with su- 
perior skill, and with deadly effect. Never, my brave friends, 
can your general forget the testimonials of attachment to our 
glorious cause, of indignant hatred to our foe, of affectionate 
confidence in your chief, that resounded from every rank, as 
he passed along your line. This animating scene damped 
the courage of the enemy ; he dropped his scaling ladders and 
fascines, and the threatened attack dwindled into a demonstra- 
tion, which served only to shew the emptiness of his parade, 
and to inspire you with a just confidence in yourselves* 

The new year was ushered in with the most tremendous 
lire his whole artillery could produce : a few hours only, how- 
ever, were necessary for the brave and skilful men, who di- 
rected our own, to dismount his cannon, destroy his batteries, 
and effectually silence his fire. Hitherto, my brave friends, 
in the contest on our lines, your courage had been passive on- 
ly ; you stood with calmness, a fire that would have tried the 
firmness of a veteran, and you anticipated a nearer contest, 
wrth an eagerness which was soon to be gratified. 

On the 8th of January the final effort was made. At the 
dawn of day the batteries opened, and the columns advanced. 
Knowing that the volunteers from Tennessee, and the militia 
from Kentucky, were stationed on your left, it was there that 
they directed their chief attack. 

Reasoning always from false principles, they expected little 
opposition from men, whose officers even were not in uniform, 
^yho. were ignorant of the rules of dress, and who had nevep 



12 

been caned into discipline. Fatal mistake ! a fire incessantly 
kept up, directed with a calmness and unerring aim, strewed 
the field with the bravest officers and men, of the column which 
slowly advanced, according to the most approved rules of Eu- 
ropean tactics, and was cut down by the untutored courage of 
American militia. Unable to sustain this galling and un- 
ceasing fire, some hundreds nearest the entrenchments called 
for quarter, which was granted — the rest retreating, were ral- 
lied at some distance, but only to make them a surer mark 
for the grape and cannister shot of our artillery, which, with- 
out exaggeration, mowed down whole ranks at every dis- 
charge 5 and at length they precipitately retired from the 
field. 

Our right had only a short contest to sustain with a few 
rash men, who fatally for themselves, forced their entrance 
into the unfinished redoubt on the river. They were quickly 
dispossessed, and this glorious day terminated with the loss 
to the enemy, of their commander-in-chief and one major- 
general killed, another major-general wounded, the most ex- 
perienced and bravest of their officers, and more than three 
thousand men killed, wounded and missing ; while our ranks, 
my friends, were thinned only by the loss of seven of our 
brave companions killed and six disabled by wounds. — Won- 
derful interposition of heaven ! unexampled even in the his- 
tory of war ! 

Let us be grateful to the God of battles, who has directed 
the arrows of indignation against our invaders, while he cov- 
ered with his protecting shield the brave defenders of their 
com: try. 

After this unsuccessful and disastrous attempt, their spirits 
were broken, their force was destroyed, and their whole at- 
tention was employed in providing the means of escape. — 
This they have effected ; leaving their heavy artillery in our 
power, and many of their wounded to our clemency. The 
consequences of this short but decisive campaign, are incal- 
culably important. The pride of our arrogant enemy hum- 
bled, his forces broken, his leaders killed, his insolent hopes 
of our disunion frustrated — his expectation of rioting in our 
spoils and wasting our country, changed into ignominious 
defeat, shameful flight, and a reluctant acknowledgement of 
the humanity and kindness of those, whom he had doomed to 
all the horrors and humiliation of a conquered state. 

" On the other side, unanimity established, disaffection crush- 
ed, confidence restored, your country saved from conquest. 
Your property from pillage, your wives and daughters from 
result and violation — the union preserved from dismember-. 



13 

nient, and perhaps, a period put by this decisive stroke, to a 
bloody and savage war. These, my brave friends, are the 
consequences of the efforts you have made, and the success with 
which they have been crowned by heaven. 

"These important results have been effected by the united 
courage and perseverance of the army ; but which the differ- 
ent corps, as well as the individuals that compose it, have vied 
with each other in their exertions to produce. The gratitude, 
the admiration of their country, offers a fairer reward, than 
that which any praises of the general can bestow, and the best 
is that of which they can never be deprived, the consciousness 
of having done their duty, and of meriting the appiar.se they 
will receive." 

Gen. Jackson was not unmindful of his duty as a religious 
man, for, on the 23d of January, he ordered a general thanks-* 
giving to the God of Heaven, for the success of the army of 
freedom. On this occasion, the Rev. Dr. Dubonrgh, the 
apostolic administrator of Louisiana, addressed him as fol- 
lows : 

'* Generax — . 

"While the state of Louisiana, in the joyful transports of 
her gratitude, hails you as her deliverer, and the asserter of 
her menaced liberties — while grateful America, so lately wrap- 
ped up in anxious suspense, on the fate of this important ■ y, 
is re-echoing from shore to shore, your splendid achieve its, 
and preparing to inscribe your name on her immortal > 
among those of her Washington* — while history, poet d 

the monumental arts, will vie in consigning to the adm m 
of the latest posterity, a triumph perhaps unparalleled in ir 
records — while thus raised by universal acclamation to tl e- 
ry pinnacle of fame, how easy had it been for you, Gem to 
forget the Prime Mover of your wonderful successes, i to 
assume to yourself a praise, which must essentially retui to 
that exalted source whence every merit is derived. Cut. 
ter acquainted with the nature of true glory, and justly pla- 
cing the summit of your ambition in approving yourself the 
worthy instrument of heaven's merciful designs, the first im- 
pulse of your religious heart was, to acknowledge the inte: po- 
sition of Providence — your first step a solemn display of voir 
humble sense of His favors. Still agitated at the remembrance 
of those dreadful agonies, from which we have been so mil 
ulously rescued, it is our pride to acknowledge, that tin 
mighty has truly had the principal hand in oup deliverance, 
and to follow you, General, in attributing to His infinite good- 
ness, the homage of our unfeigned gratitude. Let the infatu- 
ated votary of a blind chance, deride our credulous simplici- 



14 

\y ; lot the cold-hearted atheist look for the explanation of im- 
portant events to the mere concatenation of human causes ; to 
us the whole universe is loud in proclaiming a Supreme Ruler, 
who, as he holds the hearts of men in his hands, holds also 
the thread of all contingent occurrences. 

To Him, therefore, our most fervent thanks are due, for our 
late unexpected rescue. It is Him we intend to praise, when 
considering you, General, as the man of his right hand, whom 
he has taken pains x to fit out for the important commission of 
our defence. We extol that fecundity of genius, hy which, un- 
der the most discouraging distress, you created unforeseen re- 
sources, raised, as it were from the ground, hosts of intrepid 
warriors, and provided every vulnerable point with ample 
means of defence. To Him we trace that instinctive superi- 
ority of your mind, which at once rallied around you univer- 
sal confidence; impressed one irresistable movement to all the 
jarring elements of which this political machine is composed : 
aroused their slumbering spirits, and diffused through every 
rank the noble ardor which glowed in your bosom. To Him, 
in fine we address our acknowledgments for that consummate 
prudence, which defeated all the combinations of a sagacious 
enemy, entangled him in the very snares which he had spread 
for us, and succeeded in effecting his utter destruction, without 
exposing the lives of our citizens. Immortal thanks be to his 
vSupreme Majesty, for sending us such an instrument of His 
bountiful designs ! A gift of that value is the best token of the 
.continuance of his protection — the most solid encouragement to 
sue for new favors. The first which it emboldens us humbly to 
supplicate, as nearest our throbbing hearts, is that you may long 
enjoy the honor of your grateful country ; of which you will 
permit us to present you a pledge in this Wreath ot? Laurel, 
the prize of victory, the symbol of immortality. The next is 
a speedy and honorable termination of the bloody contest, in 
which we arc engaged. No one has so efficaciously labored 
as you, General, for the acceleration of that blissful period ; 
may we soon reap that sweetest fruit of your splendid and un- 
interrupted victories." 

To this the General replied — 

••' Reverend Sir — I receive, with gratitude and pleasure, 
the symbol crown which piety has prepared. I receive it ir. 
the name of the brave men whj so effectually seconded my ex- 
ertions— -thv'.y well deserve the laurels which their country will 
bestow. 

For myself, to'havebeen instrumental in the deliverance of 
such a country, is the greatest blessing that heaven could con- 
fer. That it has been effected with so little loss— that so few 



15 

tears should cloud the-swiiics of our triumph, and not a cypress 
leaf be interwoven in the wreath which you present, is a source 
of tlie most exquisite pleasure. I thank you, Reverend Sir, 
most sincerely, for the prayers which you offer up for my hap- 
piness. May those your patriotism dictates for our beloved coun- 
try, be first heard : and may mine, for your individual prosper- 
ity, as well as that of the congregation committed to your care, 
be favorably received — the prosperity, wealth and happiness 
of this city, will then be commensurate with the courage and 
other qualities of its inhabitants. 

Thus gloriously ended the campaign; and on the 13th of 
February the news of peace reached JSew-Orleans.* And in 

* As a misunderstanding exists with respect to the conduct of Gen. 
Jackson, on the receipt of the news of peace at New-Orleans, it is 
proper to state, that immediately on the receipt of the news, by the 
Government at Washington, of the Convention entered into at Ghent, 
a messenger was despatched, by the Secretary of State or War, to 
carry the intelligence to Gen. Jackson at New-Orleans. The mes- 
senger, however, by accident mislaid the despatch, and took an old 
letter to Gen. Jackson, written some months before, and containing a 
requisition for militia. After an expeditious and toilsome journey of 
80 or 90 miles a day, the messenger arrived at head-quarters with this 
antiquated order. The consternation of all parties may be imagined, 
when, instead of the news of peace, so much desired and so anxious- 
ly expected, the messenger brought nothing that could be credited 
by the commander-in-chief. The inhabitants, however, became im- 
patient, and the disaffected clamoured, that Jackson would not instanti 
ly withdraw all restrictive measures and proclaim peace. The Gene- 
ral, however, explained the transaction in a note to the editor of the 
public paper ; but the citizens could not perceive, that because he had 
received no official despatch, the news was to be distrusted. Jackson 
remained firm and immovable. He stated that the messenger, Mr. 
Bell, might have come from the city of Washington, or he might hav« 
come from the British fleet. T.iat he knew his duty, and -would per- 
form it. About this time Mr. Edward Livingston was sent on board 
the British fleet, to effect an exchange of prisoners. On his return 
he brought a verbal confirmation of the intelligence brought by the 
messenger, Mr. Bell. Now, therefore, Jackson could have no reason 
to continue the restrictions. The news was confirmed. He could no 
longer, the people said, continue those measure under pretence of a 
want of authentic information. But Jackson was still incorrigible. 
He would not rely upon the assurance of the captain of a British ship 
of war neither, and continued the war measures until the government 
actually sent such a despatch as justified him in restoring the soldiers 
to their homes, and the city of New-Orleans to its civil government. 
And now, let me ask, what could he have done under the circumstan- 
ces, other than he did r Let every real friend to his country do rredi? 
to the skill and ccrntluct of this coXsUJirtfiate and patriotic, commander, 



is 

closing the events (if tlie war, Gen. Jackson, in ordering his 
troops to return home, says — 

'« r j lie major-general is at length enabled to perform the 
pic sing task, of restoring to Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana* 
a the territory of the Mississippi, the brave troops who have 
ac 1 such a distinguished part, in the war which has just ter- 
ra (ate J. In restoring these brave men to their homes, much 
e rtion is expected of, and great responsibility imposed on, 
the commanding officers of the different corps. It is required 
of Maj. Gens. Carroll and Thomas, and Brig. Gen. Coffee, to 
march their commands, without unnecessary delay, to their 
respective states. The troops out of the Mississippi Terri- 
tory and state of Louisiana, both militia and volunteers will 
be immediately mustered out of service, paid, and discharged. 

" The major-general has the satisfaction of announcing the 
approbation of the President of the United States, to the con- 
duct of the troops under his command, expressed in flattering 
terms, through the honorable the Secretary of War. In part- 
ing with these brave men, whose destinies have been so long 
united with his own, and in whose labors and glories it is his 
happiness and his boast to have participated, the commanding 
general ran neither suppress his feelings, nor give utterance 
to them as he ought. — In what terms can he bestow suitable 
praise on merit so extraordinary, so unparalleled? Let him, 
in one burst of joy, gratitude and exultation exclaim — thesg 
are the saviours of their country — these the patriot soldiers 
who triumphed over the invincibles of Wellington, and con- 
quered the conquerors of Europe ! 

"With what patience did you submit to privations — with 
what fortitude did you endure fatigue — what valor did you 
display in the day of battle! you have secured to America a 
proud name among the nations of the earth — a glory which 
will never perish. Possessing those dispositions, which equal- 
ly adorn the citizen, and the soldier, the expectations of your 
country will be met in peace, as her wishes have been gratifi- 
ed in war. Go, then, my brave companions, to your homes; 
to those tender connexions, and blissful scenes, which render 
life so dear — full of honor, and crowned with laurels which 
will never fade. When participating, in the bosoms of your 
families, the enjoyment of peaceful life, with what happiness 
will you not look back to the toils you have borne — to the 
dangers you have encountered ? How will all your past ex- 
posures be converted into sources of inexpressible delight? 
Who, that never experienced your sufferings will be able to 
appreciate your joys? The man who slumbered ingloriously 
at home, during your painful marches, your nights of watch-' 



1* 

fulness, and your days of toil, will envy you the happiness 
which these recollections will afford — still more will he envy 
the gratitude of that country, which you have so eminently 
contributed to save. Continue, fellow soldiers, on your pas- 
sage to your several destinations, to preserve that subordina- 
tion, that dignified and manly deportment which have so en- 
liobled your character. 

" While the commanding general is thus giving indulgence 
to his feelings, towards those brave companions, who accompa- 
nied him through difficulties and danger, he cannot permit the 
names of Blount, and Shelby, and Holmes, to pass unnoticed. 
With what generous ardor and patriotism, have these distin- 
guished governors contributed all their exertions j and the 
success which has resulted, will be to them a reward more 
grateful than any which the pomp of title or the splendor of 
wealth, can bestow. 

"What happiness it is to the commanding general that 
while danger was before him, he was on no occasion, compell- 
ed to use towards his companions in arms, either severity or 
rebuke. If after the enemy had retired, improper passions 
began their empire in a few unworthy bosoms, and rendered 
a resort to energetic measures necessary for their suppression, 
he has not confounded the innocent with the guilty — the sedu- 
ced with tiie seducers. Towards you, fellow-soldiers, the 
most cheering recollections exist, blended, alas ! with regret 
that disease and war should have ravished from us, so many 
worthy companions. But the memory of the cause in which 
they perished, and of the virtues which animated them while 
living, must occupy the place where sorrow would claim to 
dwell. 

" Farewell, fellow-soldiers. The expression of your gen- 
eral's thanks is feeble, but the gratitude of a country of free- 
men is yours-*-yours the applause of an admiring world." 

We have now to review the character of Geu. Jackson, from 
the conclusion of peace to the present time. 

As we approach the present day of that living great man. 
General Jackson, we shall bo more brief, although his biogra- 
phy since the peace is fraught with noble incidents. 

We have before stated, that Gen. Jackson resorted to mar- 
tial law, in order to master the defence of New-Orleans. It 
is useless to write about tories and traitors at the present day : 
and it suffices us to say, that whoever looks over the history 
of the late war, will be convinced that there were more per- 
sons unfriendly to what they believed to be the real interests 
of freedom, at that time, in Louisiana, in proportion to its 
population, than in any other section of our country. It is 

C 



18 

en/nigh to state, that a majority of the Senate and House of 
Representatives of that time, did oppose every necessary re- 
quisition that was made for the defence of New-Orleans, and 
that mortified and splenetic feelings induced the jaundiced 
mind of Judge Hall to summon Gen. Jackson hefore him, for 
arresting a Bourbon Frenchman, by the name of Louaillier, 
who happened to be a member of the State Legislature, and 
who had written in favour of the enemy. General Jackson's 
defence, after the peace, when summoned to appear before the 
Judge, is enough. 

" A disciplined and powerful army was on our coast, com- 
manded by officers of tried valour, and consummate skill: 
their fleet had already destroyed the feeble defence, on which, 
alone, we could rely, to prevent their landing on our shores. 

" Their point of attack was uncertain — a hundred inlets 
were to be guarded, by a force not sufficient in number for 
one; we had no lines of defence; treason lurked amongst us, 
and only waited the moment of expected defeat, to show itself 
Openly. 

" Our men were few, and of those few, not all were armed ; 
our utter ruin, if we failed, at hand, and inevitable: every 
thing depended on the prompt and energetic use of the means 
tve possessed, in calling the whole force of the community in- 
to action ; it was a contest for the very existence of the state, 
and every nerve was to be strained in its defence. The phy- 
sical force of every individual, his moral faculties, his proper- 
ty, and the energy of his example, were to be called into ac- 
tion, and instant action. No delay — no hesitation — no in- 
quiry about rights, or all was lost; and every thing dear to 
man, his property, life, the honour of his family, his country, 
its constitution and laws, were swept away by the avowed 
principles, the open practice of the enemy, with whom we had 
to contend. Fortifications were to be erected, supplies pro- 
cured, arms sought for, requisitions made, the emissaries of 
the enemy watched, lurking treason overawed, insubordina- 
tion punished, and the contagion of cowardly example to be 
stopped. 

" In this crisis, and under a firm persuasion that none of 
those ohjects cotild be effected by the exercise of the ordinary 
powers confided to him — under a solemn conviction that tho 
country committed to his care, could be saved by that measure 
only, from utter ruin — under a religious belief, that ht£wa$ 
performing the most important and sacred duty, the respond- 
ent proclaimed martial law. He intended, by that meas- 
ure, to supersede such civil powers, as in their operation inter- 
fered with those ho was obliged to exercise. H« thought, in 



19 

such a moment, constitutional forms must be suspended, for 
the permanent preservation of constitutional rights, and that 
there could be no question whether it were best to depart, for 
a moment, from the enjoyment of our dearest privileges, or 
have them wrested from us forever — He knew, that if the ci- 
vil magistrate were permitted to exercise his usual functions, 
none of the measures necessary to avert the awful fate that 
threatened us, could be expected. Personal liberty cannot ex- 
ist, at a time when every man in required to become a soldier. 
Private property cannot be secured, when its use is indispen- 
sable to the public safety. 

s< Unlimited liberty of speech is incompatible with the dis- 
cipline of a camp : and that of the press, more dangerous still, 
when made the vehicle of conveying intelligence to the enemy, 
or exciting mutiny among the troops. To have suffered the 
uncontrolled enjoyment of any of those rights, during the 
time of the late invasion, would have been to abandon the de- 
fence of the country. The civil magistrate is the guardian ot 
those rights ; but no further." 

After Gen. Jaekson had retired from New-Orleans to Ten T 
nessee, he received an order to repair to the seat of Govern^ 
menh to assist in arranging the peace establishment of the ar- 
my. The events which have taken place in the life of Gen. 
Jackson, since that time, are too familiar in the minds of eve- 
ry American, to he repeated here ; and we shall close this me- 
moir in the words of that patriarch of liberty, Thomas Jeffer- 
son, who joined in a public dinner given at Lynchburg, in 
Virginia, to general, Jackson, as he passed through that place 
on his way to Washington. The sentiment was : — " Honor 
and gratitude to the man who has filled the measure of his 
Country's Honor!" 



JVoicfrom the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Amer- 
ican Minister. 

" Sir. — In the department confided to me, disagreeable ac- 
counts continue to be received concerning the nature and cir- 
cumstances of the late events in Florida, and the hostile pro- 
ceedings of the American General Jackson, and the troops un- 
der his command, in the territory of those provinces which be- 
long to his Majesty, Besides the facts to which I invited the 
attention of your excellency in my notes of the 26th July, and 
of the 6th and 11th of this month, I haVe now before me tha 



20 

copy of a capitulation, which, it appears, followed the hostili- 
ties committed by that General against the fortress of Pensa- 
cola, and in consequence of which the Spanish garrison has 
been conveyed to the Havanna. In my preceding notes, I had 
the honor to inform your excellency, that notwithstanding the 
particular character of violence which seemed to mark the 
actions and operations of general Jackson, since his first en- 
trance into Florida — His Majesty, although willing to consid- 
er these proceedings as the arbitrary acts of the said General, 
was convinced that the government of the United States would 
no longer delay to disapprove then as soon as they come to 
its knowledge, and that proper orders would immediately be 
given, not only for the evacuation of the territory invaded, 
but also for the reparation of the damage occasioned, and for 
the restoration of the property taken, which belonged as well 
to his Majesty, and Spanish subjects, as also to strangers who 
lived there under the protection of his Majesty's government. 
"It could not be presumed, without offence to the integrity 
of the American government, that there would be any delay in 
giving satisfaction to a friendly power, and to all civilized na- 
tions this testimony of respect for those principles on which 
the maintenance of social order depends. It was with pro- 
found affliction that his Majesty learnt from the subsequent 
report of his Minister at Washington, that as the first excess- 
es of General Jackson had not been disapproved, he had not 
hesitated to continue his acts of violence, and desolated with 
fire and sword every thing upon the Spanish territory, when 
he met with a resistance which a sense of honor prescribed, to 
Some small garrisons which were attacked in the midst of 
peace by a numerous body of troops. In general the territo- 
ry of his Majesty was attacked in the most revolting manner, 
the fortresses and depots of arms have been taken by force, 
the garrisons made prisoners, and then sent out of the provin- 
ces where his majesty had ordered them to serve. Nay, sub- 
jects of powers in friendship with his Majesty have been exe- 
cuted upon Spanish ground, and this act of barbarity cloaked 
with judicial forms, which, in that situation, and in these cir- 
cumstances, can only be considered a refinement of cruelty. 
It cannot be doubted but these excesses are known to the go- 
vernment of Washington ; and it docs not appear that orders 
have been given to put an "end to them, or give to the Spanish 
government the only satisfaction they admit of. In this situa- 
tion his Majesty considers it to be due to his own dignity, and 
that of the people whom he governs, to order me, at the same 
time that I most solemnly protest against all that has been done 
by General Jackson, from the day that lie set his foot on the tct 



21 



ritorv of Florida, to add further that your excellency will be 
plSSd to inform your government that the King ho — 
that from the nature of the .aid injuries, and rea ly JtfsUle 
proceedings, the course of the negociations pending bgjga 
he two powers is, and must remain, interrupt ed a»^oken 
off, till the government of the United States has + ^Mf e 
conduct of General Jackson in a manner suitable to is bono, 
and which, it seems, can be no other than to disapprove of tho 
excesses committed : to give orders to have things placed on 
the same footing as they were in before the wwyji»jM» 
inflict an appropriate punishment on the author ot so many 

^"ifi^'extremely disagreeable to his Majesty to be compelled 
to this declaration, which is a more necessary consequence ot 
the nature of the affair, than an act ot his royal wi i!,w »"» 
wishes and endeavors have always beet, directed tojn^wg 
an equitable arrangement of the matters in debate M**™** 
two governments j but the whole impartial world will equa Uy 
recognize in the present state of things the * W r f > *£*} 
must ensue, if negociations, which suppose a state ot perj™ 
political friendship, were to be continued at a time when sue U 
great insults have been offered without provocation. I he oc- 
cupation of the larger and better part of Florida in 1810, bv 
the United States, who deprived hi* Majesty, during his cap- 
tivity, of a country in which he was in peaceable £>**«<*• 
under pretences, which, if they had been even wel founded, 
oucht never to -have been enforced by violence; and the late 
improper attack on Amelia Island, were facts of the same na- 
ture and tendency, equally unjust in their ■ principle, , and eqiU-. 
ly protested against on the part of Spain ; but as hey were 
less offensive in their kind, and under these circumstances Ins 
Majesty believed at the same time he gave proofs ol bis raocj 
ration/that he might wait for satisfaction on these pointe Jill 
the definitive arrangement of the points in dispute, which it 
was expected would soon take place. Ihc same is not tlie 
case in the present instance. The Americans hay eno^aun, 
either founded or unfounded, to the territory which Gene al 
Jackson has attacked-no real or pretended revolution ot the 
inhabitants could serve as a pretext-no previous attar k by 
robbers, which was alleged as a reason for the unjust seizure 
of Amelia-Island ; the Spanish flag was flying on the tort i eas- 
es of San Marcos and Pensacola, when they were attacked , 
and, to complete the measure of insults, that has been taken 
by violence, which his Majesty had offered in the P™' »»S "*" 
relations to cede to the United States m an honorable ma n- 
ner, so that it seems to have been preferred to seize it by mo - 



22 

lence, rather than to acquire it from {he generous friendship 
of the King. These extraordinary circumstances has induced 
his Majesty to take the resolution, that it is incompatible with 
his exalted character to continue negociatious, till an affair 
has been settled and terminated in a suitable manner, which 
takes the precedence of all other points in dispute between the 
two Governments, and which, from its importance, is calcula- 
ted essentially to change, in their whole extent, the political 
relations between the two countries. 

•'' At the same time, to give a proof of the peaceable and 
moderate sentiments which characterized the conduct of the 
Spanish government, I must acquaint your excellency, that 
his Majesty, in charging me to communicate to his minister at 
Washington the declared rupture of the ncgociations, has 
likewise commanded me to inform him, that if the government 
of the Uuitcd States had gives! or should give the only satis- 
faction which the circumstance admits of, and which his Ma- 
jesty may expect from the justice and probity of that govern- 
ment, he may in this case continue the negociatious begun, 
without applying to his Majesty for new orders to authorize 
him to continue them. 

" In making to your Excellency this communication, I can- 
not omit to state to you how painful it has been to me, that this 
unexpected obstacle should occur just at the time when I flat- 
tered myself with the hope of seeing the political relations, 
and the most perfect harmony between the two governments 
re-established upon solid and durable foundations. I renew to 
your excellency the assurance of my distinguished respect, and 
pray God to preserve your excellency many years. 
*•' Your excellency's most devoted servant, 

"JOSEPH FIZARRQ. 

'•Madrid, Aug. 29, 1818." 



Reply of Mr. Secretary Adams. 

Department of State, 
Washington, 28th Nov. 1818. 
Sir. — Your despatches, to No. 92, inclusive, with their en- 
closures, have been received at this department. Among these 
enclosures, are the several notes addressed to you by Mr. Fi- 
zarro,, in relation to the transactions during the campaign of 
general Jackson, against the Seminole Indians, and the ban- 
ditti of Negroes combined with them, and particularly to his 
proceedings in Florida, without the boundaries of the United 
States. 



23 

In the fourth find last of these notes of Mr. Pizarro, he has 
given formal notice that the king his master, has issued orders 
for the suspension of the negotiation between the United States 
and Spain, until satisfaction shall have been made by the 
American government to him for these proceedings of Gen. 
Jackson, which he considers as acts of unequivocal hostility 
against him, and as outrages upon his honor and dignity ; the 
only acceptable atonement for which, is stated to consist in a 
disavowal of the acts of the American general, thus complain- 
ed of — the infliction upon him of a suitable punishment for his 
supposed misconduct, and the restitution of the posts and ter- 
ritories taken by him from the Spanish authorities, with in- 
demnity for all the property taken, and all damages and inju- 
ries, public or private, sustained in consequence of it. 

Within a very few days after this notification, Mr Pizarro 
must have received, with copies ofthecorresponder.ee between 
Mr. Onis and this department, the determination which had 
been taken by the President, to restore the place of Pensaeola, 
with the fort of Barancas, to any person properly authorized 
on the part of Spain, to receive them, and the fort of St. Marks 
to any Spanish force adequate to its protection against the In- 
dians, by whom its forcible occupation had been threatened, for 
purposes of hostility against the United States. The officer 
commanding at the post, has been directed to consider 250 men 
as that adequate force; and in case of their appearance, with 
proper authority, to deliver it up to their commander accor- 
dingly. 

From the last mentioned correspondence, the Spanish go- 
vernment must likewise hare been satisfied that the .occupation 
of these places in Spanish Florida, by the commander of the 
Anerican forces, was not by virtue of any order received by 
him from this government to that effect, nor with any view of 
wresting the province from the possession of Spain, nor in any 
spirit of hostility to the Spanish government ; that it arose 
from incidents which arose in the prosecution of the war 
against the Indians — from the imminent danger in which the 
fort of St. Marks was of being seized by the Indians them- 
selves, and from the manifestations of hostility to the United 
States, by the commandant of St. Marks and the governor of 
Pensaeola, the proofs of which were made known to general 
Jackson, and impelled him, from the necessities of self-de- 
fence, to the step of which the Spanish government complains- 

It might be sufficient to leave the vindication of these mea- 
sures upon those grounds, and to furnish, in the enclosed co- 
pies of gen. Jackson's letters, and the vouchers by which they 
are supported, the evidence of that hostile spirit on the part 



21 

of the Spanish commanders, but for the terms in which Mr. 
Pizarro speaks of the execution of two subjects of Great Bri- 
tain, taken, one at the fort of St. Marks, and the other at Su- 
wanev, and in the intimation that these transactions may lead 
to a change in the relations between the two nations, which is 
doubtless to be understood as a menace of war. 

It may be. therefore, proper to remind the government oC 
his Catholic Majesty of the incidents in which the Seminole 
war originated, as well as of the circumstances connected with 
it, in the relations between Spain and her ally, whom site sup- 
poses to have been injured by the proceedings of general Jack- 
son, and to give to the Spanish cabinet some precise informa- 
tion of the nature of the business, peculiarly interesting to 
Spain, in which these subjects of her allies, in whose favour 
she takes this interest, were engaged, when their projects of 
every kind were terminated, in consequence of their falling 
into the hands of general Jackson. 

In the mouth of August, 1814, while a war existed between 
the United States and Great Britain, to which Spain had for- 
merly declared herself neutral, a British force, not in the fresh 
pursuit of a defeated and Hying enemy — not overstepping an 
imaginary and equivocal boundary, between their own terri- 
tory, and those belonging, in some sort, as much to their ene- 
my as to Spain, but approaching by sea, and by a broad and 
open invasion of the Spanish province, a thousand miles, or 
an ocean's distance from any British territory, landed in 
Florida, took possession of Pensacola and the fort of Baran- 
cas. and invited, by public proclamations, all the runaway 
negroes — all the savage Indians — all the pirates, and all the 
traitors to their country, whom they knew or imagined to 
exist within the reach of their summons, to join their stand- 
ard, and wage ati exterminating war against that portion of 
the United States immediately bordering upon this neutral, 
and thus violated territory of Spain. The late commander of 
this British force, was a certain Col. Nichols, who, driven 
from Pensacola by the approach of Gen. Jackson, actually 
left, to be blown up, the Spanish fort of Barancas, when he 
found it could not afford him any protection, and, at another, 
established himself on the Apalachicola river, and there erect- 
ed a fort, from which to sally forth with his motly tribe of 
black, white and red combatants, against the defenceless bor- 
der* of the United States, in that vicinity. A part of this 
force consisted of a corps of colonial marines, levied in the 
British colonics, in which George "Woodbine was a captain, 
and Robert Cbrvstie Ambrister was a lieutenant. 



25 

A*? between the United States and Great Britain, we would 
be willing to bury this transaction in the same grave of obli- 
vion with other transactions of that war, had the hostilities of 
col. Nichols terminated with the war. But he did nut con- 
sider the peace which ensued between the United States and 
Great Britain, as having put an end either to his military oc- 
cupations or his negotiations w ith the Indians, against the Uni- 
ted States. Several months after the ratification of the trea- 
ty of Ghent, he retained his post and his party colored forces, 
in military array. 

By the 9th article of that treaty, the United States had stip- 
ulated to put an end immediately after its ratification, to hos- 
tilities Avith all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom 
they might be at war at the time of the ratification, and to re- 
store to them all the possessions which they had in the year 
1811. This article bad application to the Creek nation with 
whom the United States had already made peace by a treaty 
concluded on the 9th day of August, 1814, more than four 
months before the treaty of Ghent was signed. Yet, rol. Nich- 
olls not only affected to consider it as applying to the Seminole? 
of Florida, and the outlawed Redsticks whom he had induced, 
to join him there, but actually persuaded them that they were 
entitled, by virtue of the treaty of Ghent, to all the lands 
which had belonged to the Creek nation, within the United 
States, in the year 1811, and that the government of Great 
Britain would support them in that pretension. He asserted 
also this doctrine in a correspondence with Col. Hawkins, then 
the agent of the United States with the Creeks, and gave 
him notice, in therr name, w ith a mockery of solemnity, that 
they had concluded a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, 
and a treaty of navigation and commerce with Great Britain 
Of which more was to be heard after it should be ratified in 
England. Col. Nicholls then evacuated^ his fort, which, in 
some of the enclosed papers, is called the fort at Prospect 
Bluff, but which he had denominated the British post on the 
Apalachicola ; took with him the white portion of his force, 
and embarked for England, with several of the wretched sav- 
ages whom he was thus deluding to their fate — among whom 
was the Prophet Francis, or Hillis Hadjo — and left the fort, 
amply supplied with military stores and ammunition, to the 
negro department of his allies. It afterwards was known by 
the name of the Negro fort. Col. Hawkins immediately com- 
municated to this government, the correspondence between 
him and Nicholls, here referred to, upon which Mr. Monroe, 
then secretary of state, addressed a letter to Mr. Baker, the 
British charge d'affjairs, at Washington, complaining of Nich» 



2.6 

oils' conduct, and shewing his pretence that the 9th article of 
the treaty of Ghent, could have any application to his Indians, 
was utterly destitute of foundation. Copies of the same cor- 
respondence were transmitted to the minister of the U. States, 
then in England, with instructions to remonstrate with the 
British government against the proceedings of Nicholls, and 
to show how incompatible they were with the peace which had 
been concluded between the two nations. These remonstran- 
ces were accordingly made, first in personal interview with 
earl Bathurst and Lord Castlereagh, and afterwards in writ- 
ten notes, addressed successively to them. — Lord Bathurst, in 
the most unequivocal manner, confirmed the facts, and disa- 
vowed the misconduct of Nicholls; declared his disapproba- 
tion of the pretended treaty of alliance, offensive and defen- 
sive, which he had made ; assured the American minister that 
the British Government had refused to ratify that treaty, and 
would send back the Indians whom Nicholls had brought out, 
with him* with advice to make their peace on such terms as 
they could obtain. Lord Castlereagh confirmed the assurance 
that the treaty would not be ratified ; and if, at the same time 
that these assurances were given, certain distinctions of pub- 
lic notoriety, were shown to the Prophet Hillis Hadjo, and he 
was actually honored with a commission as a British officer, 
it is to be presumed that these favors were granted to him as 
a reward for past services, and not as encouragement to ex- 
pect any support from Great Britain, in a continuance of sav- 
age hostilities against the United States, all intention of giv- 
ing any such support having been repeatedly and earnestly 
disavowed. 

The Negro fort, however abandoned by col. Nicholls, re- 
mained on the Spanish territory, occupied by the banditti to 
whom he had left it^and held by them as a post, from whence 
to commit depredations, outrages, and murders, and as a recep- 
tacle for fugitive slaves and malefactors, to the great annoy- 
ance both of the United States and of Spanish Florida. In 
April, 1S16, Gen. Jackson wrote a letter to the governor of 
Pensacoja, calling upon him to put down this common nuisance 
to the peaceable inhabitants of both countries. That letter 
(XV.) together with the answer of the governor of Pensaco- 
la, have already been communicated to the Spanish minister 
here, and by him doubtless to his government. Copies of them 
arc nevertheless, (XXIII.) now again enclosed; particularly 
as the letter from the governor explicitly admits — that this 
fort, constructed by Nicholls, in violation both of the territo- 
ry and neutrality of Spain, was still no less obnoxious to his 
government than to the United States; but that lis had neither 



72 

sufficient force, nor an authority, without orders from the go- 
vernor general of the Havanna, to destroy it. It was after- 
wards, on the 27th July, 1816, destroyed by a cannon shot 
from a gu.i vessel of the United States, which, in its passage 
up the river, was fired upon from it. It was blown up, with 
an English flag still flying as its standard, and immediately 
after the barbarous murder of a boat's crew, belonging to the 
navy of the United States, by the banditti left in it by Nich- 
ol!s. 

In the year 1817, Alexander Arbuthnot, of the Island of 
New Providence, a British subject, first appeared, as an Indi- 
an trader, in Spanish Florida, and as the successor of colonel 
Nicholls, in the employment of instigating the Seminole and 
outlawed Red Stick Indians to hostilities against the United 
States, by reviving the pretence that they were entitled to all 
the lands which had been ceded by the Creek nation to the 
United States, in August, 1814. As a mere Indian trader, 
the intrusion of this man, into a Spanish province, was con- 
trary to the policy observed by all the European powers in 
this hemisphere, and by none more rigorously than Spain, of 
excluding all foreigners from intercourse with the Indians, 
within their territories. It must be known to the Spanish go- 
vernment whether /Vrbuthnot had a Spanish license for tra- 
ding with the Indians in Spanish Florida or not; but they al- 
so know that Spain was bound by treaty, to restrain by force 
all hostilities on the part of those Indians, against the citizens 
of the United States ; and it is for them to explain how, con- 
sistently with those engagements, Spain could, contrary to all 
the maxims of her ordinary policy, grant snch a license to a 
foreign incendiary, whose principal, if not his only object, ap- 
pears to have been to stimulate those hostilities which Spain 
had expressly stipulated by force to restrain. In this infer- 
nal instigation he was but too successful. No sooner did he 
make his appearance among the Indians, accompanied by the 
Prophet HillisHadjo, returned from his expedition to England, 
than the peaceful inhabitants on the borders of the United 
States were visited with all the horrors of savage war : the 
robbery of their property, and the barbarous and indiscrimi- 
nate murder of women, infancy, and age. 

After the repeated expostulations, warnings, and offers of 
peace, through the summer and autumn of 1817, on the part 
of the United States, had been answered only by renewed out- 
rages, and after a detachment of forty men, under lieut. Scott, 
accompanied by seven women, had been way-laid and murder- 
ed by the Indians, orders were given to general Jackson, and 
an adequate force was placed at his disposal, to terminate tho 



28 

war. It was ascertained that the Spanish force in Florida 
was inadequate for the protection even of the Spanish terri- 
tory itself, against this mingled horde of lawless Indians and 
negroes; and, although their devastations were committed 
within the United States, they immediately sought refuge 
within the Florida line, and there only were to he overtaken. 
The necessity of crossing the line was indispensable; for it . 
was from beyond the line that the Indians made their murder- 
ous incursions witiiin that of the United States. It was there 
that they had their abode, and the territory belonged in fact 
to them, although within the borders of the Spanish jurisdic- 
tion. Thfcre it was that the American commander met the 
principal resistance from them ; there it was, that were found 
the still bleeding scalps of our citizens, freshly butchered by 
them ; there it was that he released the only woman, who had 
.been suffered to survive the massacre of the party under licut. 
Scott. But it was not anticipated by this government that 
the commanding officers of Spain, in Florida, whose special 
duty it was, in conformity to the solemn engagements con- 
tracted by their nation, to restrain by force, those Indians 
from hostilities against the United States, would be found en- 
couraging, aiding and abetting them, and furnishing them with 
supplies for carrying on such hostilities. The officer in com- 
mand, immediately before general Jackson, was, therefore, 
specially instructed to respect, as far as possible, the Spanish 
authority, wherever it was maintained, and copies of those or- 
ders were also furnished to gen. Jackson, upon his taking 
the command. In the course of his pursuit, as he approach- 
ed St. Marks, he was informed, direct from the governor of 
Pensacola, that a party of the hostile Indians had threatened 
to seize that fort, and that he apprehended the Spanish garri- 
son there was not in strength sufficient to defend it against 
them. This information was confirmed from other sources, 
and by the evidence produced upon the trial of Ambrister, it 
proved to have been exactly true. By all the laws of neu- 
trality and war, as well as of prudence and of humanity, he 
was warranted in anticipating his enemy, by the amicable, 
and that being refused, by the forcible occupation of the fort. 
There will need no citations from printed treatises on interna- 
tional law, to prove the correctness of this principle. It is 
engraved in adamant on the common sense of mankind; no 
■writer upon the laws of nations ever pretended to contradict 
it; none of any reputation or authority ever omitted to in- 
sert it. 

At Fort St. Marks, Alexander Arbuthnot, the British In- 
dian trader from beyond the seas, the fire-brand, by whose 



torch the Negro-Indian war against our borders had been re- 
kindled, was found an innate of the commandant's family ; 
and it was also found that, by the commandant himself, coun- 
cils of war had been permitted to be held within it, by the sav- 
age chiefs and warriors; that the Spanish store-houses bad 
been appropriated to their use ; that it was an open market for 
cattle, known to have been robbed by them from citizens of 
the United States, and which had been contracted foe and pur- 
chase by the officers of the garrison. That information had 
been afforded from this fort by Arbuthnot, to the enemy, of 
the strength and movements of the American army ; that the 
date of the departure of express had been noted by the Span- 
ish commissary, and ammunition, munitions of war, and all 
necessary supplies furnished to the Indians. 

The conduct of the governor of Pensacola was not iess 
marked by a disposition of enmity to the United States, and 
by an utter disregard to the obligations of the treaty, by 
which he was bound to restrain by force, the Indians from hos- 
tilities against them. When called upon to vindicate the 6 r- 
ritorial rights and authority of Spain, by the destruction of 
the negro fort, his predecessor had declared it to be not less 
annoying and pernicious to the Spanish subjects in Florida, 
than to the United States, but had pleaded his inability to sub- 
due it. He himself had expressed his apprehensions that Fort 
St. Marks would he forcibly taken by the savages, fronj its 
Spanish garrison ; yet at the same time, he had refused the 
passage up the Escambia river, unless upon the payment of 
excessive duties, to provisions destined as supplies for the 
American army, which by the detention of them, was subjec- 
ted to the most distressing privations. He had permitted free 
ingress and egress at Pensacola to the. avowed savage enemies 
of the United States. Supplies of ammunition, munitions of 
war, and provisions, had been received by them from thence. 
Tiiey had been received and sheltered there, from the pursuit 
of the American forces, and suffered again to sally thence, to 
enter upon the American territory and commit new murders. 
Finally, on the approach of general Jackson to Pensacola, the 
governor sent him a letter, denouncing his entry upon the ter- 
ritory of Florida, as a violent outrage upon the rights of 
Spain, commanding him to depart and withdraw from the same, 
and threatening, in case of his non-ccmpliance, to employ 
force to expel him. 

It became, therefore, in the opinion of gen. Jackson, indis- 
pensably necessary to take^ from the governor of Pensacola 
the means of carrying his threat into execution. Before the 
forces under his command, the savage enemies of his country 



30 

had disappeared. But he knew that the moment those forces 
should be disbanded, if sheltered by Spanish fortresses, if fur- 
nished with ammunition and supplies by Spanish officers, and 
if aided and supported by the instigation of Spanish encour- 
agement, as he had every reason to expect they would be, they 
would re-appear, and fired, in addition to their ordinary fero- 
ciousness, with revenge for the chastisement they had so re- 
cently received, would again rush with the war hatchet and 
scalping knife, into the borders of the United States, and 
mark evevy foot-step wifh the blood of their defenceless citi- 
zens. So far as all the native resources of the savages extend- 
ed, the war was at an end, and s^en. Jackson was about to re- 
store to their families and homes, toe bravo volunteers who 
had followed his standard, and who had constituted the prin- 
cipal part of his force. This could be done with safety, leav- 
ing the regular portion of his troops to garrison his line of 
forts, and two small detachments of his volunteer cavalry, to 
scour the country round Pensacola, and sweep off the lurking 
remnant of savages, who had been scattered and dispersed be- 
fore him. This was sufficient to keep in check the remnant of 
the banditti, against whom he had marched, so long as they 
should be destitute of other aid and support. It was in his 
judgment, not sufficient, if they should be suffered to rally 
their numbers under the protection of Spanish forts, and to de- 
rive new strength from the impotence or the ill will against 
the United States of the Spanish authorities. 

He took possession, therefore, of Pensacola and of the fort 
of Barrancas, as he had done of St. Marks, not in a spirit of 
hostility to Spain, but as a necessary measure of self defence; 
giving notice that they should be restored whenever Spain 
should place commanders and a force there, able and wilting 
to fulfil the engagements of Spain towards the United States, 
of restraining, by force, the Florida Indians from hostilities 
p ainst their citizens. The president of the United States, to 
give a signal manifestation of his confidence in the disposition 
of the king of Spain, to perform with good. faith this indispen- 
sable engagement, and to demonstrate to the world that neither 
the desire of conquest nor hostility to Spain, had any interest 
in the councils of' the United States, has directed the uncon- 
ditional restoration to any Spanish officer, duly authorised to 
receive them, of Pensacola and Barrancas, and that of St. 
Marks to any Spanish force adequate for its defence against 
the attack of the. savages. But the president will neither in- 
flict punishment, nor pass a censure upon general Jackson for 
that fo:]<!(!(M, the motives for which were founded in the purest 
patriotism, of the necessity for which he. had the most imm.e- 



31 

diate and effectual means of forming a judgment, and the vin* 
dication of which is written in every page of the law of na- 
tions, as well as in the first law of nature, self-defence. He 
thinks it, on the contrary, due to the justice which the United 
States have a right to claim from Spain, and you#re accord- 
ingly instructed to demand of the Spanish government, that 
enquiry shall he instituted into the conduct of Don Jose Ma- 
sot, governor of Pensacola, and of Don Francisco C. Luengo, 
commandant at St. Marks, and a suitable punishment inflict- 
ed upon them for having, in defiance and violation of the en- 
gagements of Spain with the United States, aided and assisted 
these hordes of savages iti those very hostilities against the 
United States, which it was their official duty to restrain. 
This inquiry is due to the character of those officers them- 
selves, and to the honour of the Spanish government. The 
obligation of Spain to restrain, by force, the Indians of Flo- 
rida from hostilities against the United States and their citi- 
zens, is explicit, is positive, is unqualified. The fact, that for 
a series of years they have received shelter, assistance, sup- 
plies and protection, in the practice of such hostilities from 
the Spanish commanders in Florida, is clear and unequivocal. 
If, as the commanders, both at Pensacola and St. Marks have 
alleged, this has been the result of their weakness, rather than 
their will, if they have assisted the Indians against the Uni- 
ted States to avert their hostilities from the province, which 
they had not sufficient force to defend against them, it may 
serve, in some measure, to exculpate, individually, those offi- 
cers, but it must carry demonstration irresistible to the Span- 
ish government, that the right of the United States can as 
little compound with impotence as with perfidy, and that 
Spain must immediately make her election, either to place a 
force in Florida adequate to the protection of her engagements, 
or cede to the United States a province, of which she retain-; 
nothing but the nominal possession ; but which is, in fact, a 
direlict open to the occupancy of every enemy civilized or 
savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly 
purpose than as a post of annoyance to them. 

That the purposes, as well of the Negro-Indian banditti, 
with whom we have been contending, as of the British inva- 
ders of Florida, who first assembled and employed them, and 
of the British intruding and pretending traders, since the 
peace, who have instigated and betrayed them to destruction, 
have been not less hostile to Spain than to the United States, 
the proofs contained in the documents herewith enclosed, are 
conclusive. Mr. Fizarro's note of the 29th August, speaks of 
Ins Catholic Majesty's profound indignation at the " Bangui- 



3% 

nary executions on the Spanish soil, of the subjects of powers 
in amity ith the king"— meaning Arbuthnot and Ambristeiv. 
Let Mr. Pizwro's successor take the trouble of reading the 
enclosed documents, and be will discover wbo Arbuthnot and 
Ambristcr vcre, and vt hat were their purposes : That Arbuth- 
not was on!? the successor of Nieholls ; and Ambrister the 
agent of Woodbine, and the subaltern of McGregor. Mr. 
Pizarro qualifies general Jackson's necessary pursuit of a 
savage enemy beyond the Spanish Florida line, as a shameful 
invasion to his majesty's territory — yet, that territory was the 
territory also of the savage enemy, and Spain was bound to 
restrain them, by force, from hostilities against the United 
States — and it was the failure of Spain to fulfil this engage- 
ment, which has made it necessary for gen. Jackson to pursue 
the savages across the line. — What then was the character of 
Nicholl's invasion of his majesty's territory ; and where was 
his majesty's profound indignation at that ? Mr. Pizarro says* 
his majesty's places and forts have been violently seized on, 
nav, had not the principal of his Sorts been blown up by Ni- 
eholls, and a British fort on the same Spanish territory been 
erected during the war. and left standing as a Negro fort, in 
defiance of Spanish authority, after the peace? Where has 
his majesty suspended formally all negociation with the sove- 
reign of colonel Nieholls, for the shameful invasion of his 
territory without color of provocation, without pretence of 
necessity, without the shadoia or evert avowal of a pretext? 
Has his majesty given solemn warning to the, British govern- 
ment, that these were incidents " ol transr.endant moment ca- 
pable of producing an essential and thorough change in the 
political relations of the two countries?" Nieholls and 
Woodbine, in their invitations and promises to the slaves te 
run away from their masters and join them, did not confine 
themsehes to the slaves of the United States— they received 
with as hearty a welcome, and employed with equal readiness, 
the futigives 'from their masters, in Florida, as those from 
Georgia. Against this special injury the governor of Pensa- 
cola did earnestly remonstrate with the British admiral Cock- 
burn, but against the shameful invasion of the territory—- 
against the violent seizure of the forts and places— against 
the blowing up of the Barrancas, and the erection and main- 
tenance urtder British banners, of the Negro fort on Spanish 
soil — against the negociation by a British officer in the midst 
of peace, of pretended treaties, offensive and defensive, and of 
navigation and commerce, upon Spanish territory, between 
Great Britain and Spanish Indians, whom Spain was bound to 
control and restrain— if a whisper of expostulation was ever 



i£3 

wafted from Madrid to London, it was not loud enough to 
be heard across the Atlantic, nor energetic enough to trans- 
pire heyohd the walls of the palaces from which it issued, and 
to which it was borne. 

The connection between Arbuthnot and Nicholls, and be*- 
tween Ambrister, Woodbine and McGregor, is established be- 
yond all question, by the evidence produced at the trials before 
the court martial. I have already remarked to you on the 
very extraordinary circumstance, that a British trader from 
beyond the seas, should be permitted by the Spanish authori- 
ties, to trade With the Indians of Florida. From his letter to 
Hambly, dated 3d May, 1817, it appears that his trading waST 
but a pretence ; and that his principal purpose was to act as the. 
agent of the Indians in Florida, and outlaws from the Creeks., 
to obtain the aid of the British government, in their hostilities 
against the United States. He expressly tells Hambly there* 
that the chief of those outlaws was the principal cause of his, 
Arbuthnot's, being in the country,- and that he had come with 
an answer from carl Bathurst, delivered to him by governor 
Cameron, of New-Providence, to certain Indian talks, iti 
Which this aid of the British government had been left by Ni- 
cholls, as the agent between the Indians and the British gov- 
ernment; but having found that Nicholls had failed in his 
attempt to prevail upon the British government to pursue this 
clandestine war, in the midst of peace ; and that they were not* 
prepared to support his pretence, that half a dozen outlawed 
fugitives from the Creeks were the Creek nation ;— when Ar- 
buthnot, the incendiary, came and Was instigating them, bf 
promises of support from Great Britain, to commence their 
murderous incursions into the United States, Hambly, at the 
request of the Creeks themselves, wrote to him, warning him 
to withdraw from among that band of outlaws, and giving^ 
him a solemn foreboding of the doom that awaited him, from, 
the hand of justice, if he persevered in the course that he pur- 
sued. Arbuthnot, nevertheless, persisted ; and while he was 
deluding the wretched Indians with the promise of support 
from England, he was writing letters for them to the British 
minister in the United States, to governor Cameron, of New- 
Providence, to colonel Nicholls, to be laid before the British* 
government : and even to the Spanish governor of St. Augus- 
tine, and the governor-general of the Havanna, soliciting in 
all quarters, aid and support, arms and ammunition, for the 
Indians, against the United States ; bewailing the destruction 
of the Negro fort, and charging the British government witlt 
having drawn the Indians into war with the United States^ 
and deserting them after the peace. 

E 



34 

You will remark among the papers produced on his trial, 
a power of attorney, dated 17th June. 1817, given him by 
twelve Indians, partly of Florida, and partly of the fugitive 
outlaws from the United States. He states that this power, 
m\l\ his instructions, were, to memorialize the British govern- 
ment, and the govcruer-general of the Havarma. — These pa- 
pers are not only substantially proved as his hand writing, on 
the trial, but in the daily newspapers of London, of the 24th 
and 25th of August last, his letter to Nicholls is published, 
(somewhat garbled) with a copy of Hambly's above mentioned 
letter to him, and a reference to this Indian power of attorney 
to him, approved by the commandant of St. Marks, F. C. Lnengo. 
Another of the papers is a letter, written in the name of the 
same chiefs, by Arbuthnot, to the governor-general of the Ha- 
vannn, asking of him permission for Arbuthnot to establish a 
Warehouse on the Appalachicola ; bitterly and falsely com- 
plaining that the Americans had made settlements on their 
lands, within tbe Spanish lines, and culling upon the governor 
general to give orders to displace them, and send them back 
to their own country. In this letter they assign, as a reason 
for asking this license for Arbuthnot, the want of a person to 
put in wilting for them their talks of grievances against the 
Americans. And they asid, " the commander of the fort of 
St. Marks has heard all of our talks and complaints. He ap- 
proves of what we have done, and what we are doing; and it 
is by his recommendation we have thus presumed to address 
} oil excellency." You will find these papers in the printed 
newspaper enclosed, and in the proceedings of the court mar- 
tial, and will point them out to tlje Spanish government, not 
only as decisive proofs of the unexampled compliances of the 
Spanish Officers in Florida, to foreign intrusive agents and in- 
stigators of Indian hostilities against the United States, but 
as placing, beyond a doubt, that participation of this hostile 
spirit in the commandant of St. Marks, which general Jack- 
son so justly complains of; and of which we have so well 
founded a right to demand the punishment. Here is the com- 
mandant of a Spanish fort, bound by the sacred engagement 
of a treaty to restrain, fcy force, the Indians within his com- 
mand, from committing hostilities against the United States, 
conspiring with those same Indians, and deliberately giving 
his written approbation to their appointment of a foreigner, a 
British subject, as their agent, to solicit assistance and sup- 
plies from the governor-general of Havanna, and from the 
British government, for carrying on these same hostilities. 

Let us come to the case of Ambrister.— -He was taken in 
arms, leading and commanding the Indians, in the war against 



3 j 

the American troops^ and to that charge, upon his trial, plead- 
ing guilty. But the primary object of his coming there, was 
still more hostile to Spain, than to the United States. You 
lind that he told three of the witnesses, who testified at his 
trial, that he had come to this country upon Mr. Woodbine's 
business at Tampa Bay — to see the negroes righted ; and one 
of them, that he had a commission in the Patriot army, under 
McGregor ; and that he had expected a captaincy. And what 
was the intended business cf McGregor and Woodbine, at 
Tampa Bay? It was the conquest of Florida from Spain, by 
the use of those very Indians and Negroes, whom the com- 
mandant of St. Marks was so ready to aid and support in the 
war against the United States. The chain of proof that es- 
tablishes this fact, is contained in the documents communica- 
ted by the president to congress at their last session, relating 
to the occupation of Amelia Island by McGregor. From these 
documents you will find, that while McGregor was there, 
Woodbine went from New Providence, in a schooner of his 
own, to join him: That he arrived at Amelia Island, just as 
McGregor abandoned the companions of his achievement there, 
was leaving it : That McGregor, quitting the vessel in which 
he had embarked at Amelia, went on board that of Woodbine, 
and returned with him to New Providence : That Woodbine 
had persuaded him they could yet accomplish the conquest of 
Florida, with soldiers to be recruited at Nassau, from the corps 
of colonial marines, which had served under Nicholls during 
the late war with the United States, which corps had been 
lately disbanded ; and with the negroes to be found at Tampa 
Bay, and 1500 Indians, already then engaged to Woodbine, 
who pretended that they had made a grant of all their lands 
there to him. Among the papers, the originals of which are 
in our possession, in McGregor's own hand writing, instruc- 
tions for sailing into Tampa Bay, with the assertion that he 
calculated to be there by the last of April or first of May, of 
the present year ; a letter dated 27th December last, to one of 
his acquaintance in this country, disclosing the same inten- 
tion ; and the extract of a proclamation which was to have 
been issued at Tampa Bay, to the inhabitants of Florida, by 
the person charged with making the settlement there, before 
his arrival, announcing his approach, for the purpose of libe- 
rating them from the despotism of Spain, and of enabling 
them to form a government for themselves. Ho has persuaded 
those who would listen to him here, that his ultimate object 
was to sell the Floridas to the United States. There is sonic 
reason to suppose that he has made indirect overtures, of a 
similar nature, to tteBritish government. This was Ambris- 



^er's business in Florida. — He arrived there in March, tit? 
precursor of McGregor and Woodbine, and, immediately upon, 
his arrival, he is found seizing upon Arbuthnot's goods, and 
distributing them among the negroes and Indians ; seizing 
upon his vessel, and compelling its master to pilot him, with a 
body of armed negroes, towards the fort of St. Marks, with 
the declared purpose of talcing it by surprise, in the night. — 
Writing letters to governor Cameron, of New Providence, 
urgently calling for supplies of munitions of war, and of can* 
non for the w r ar against the Americans ; and letters to colonel 
Nicholls, renewing the same demands of supplies ; informing 
him, that he is with 300 negroes, 'a few of our Bluff people,' 
who had stuck to the catisc, and were relying upon the faith of 
Nicholls' promises. Our Bluff people were the people of the 
Negro fort, collected by Nicholls' and Woodbine's proclama- 
tions, during the American and English war ; and the cause 
to which they stuck, was the savage, servile, exterminating 
war against the United States. 

Among the agents and actors of such virtuous enterprises 
as are here unveiled, it was hardly expected that there would 
be found remarkable evidences of their respect, confidence and 
good faith towards one another. Accordingly, besides the 
■violent seizure and distribution, by Ambrister, of Arbuthnot's 
property, his letters to governor Cameron, and to Nicholls, 
are filled with the distrust and suspicions of the Indians, that 
1hcy were deceived and betrayed by Arbuthnot; while in Ar- 
buthnot's letters to the same Nicholls, he accuses Woodbine of 
having taken charge of poor Francis, the Prophet, or Hillis 
Hadjo, upon his returu from England to New Providence, and 
iwdcr pretence of taking care of him and his affairs— of hav- 
ing defrauded him of a large portion of the presents which had 
been delivered out from the king's stores to him, for Francis's 
use. This is one of the passages of Arbuthnot's letter to 
JS T icholls omitted in the publication of it last August in the Lon- 
don newspapers. 

In this narrative of dark and complicated depravity, this 
creeping and insidious war, both against Spain and the United 
States; this mockery of patriotism,' these political philters to 
fugitive slaves and Indian outlaws; the perfidies, and treache- 
ries of villains incapable of keeping their faith, even to each 
other, all in the nanie of South American liberty, of the rights 
of runaway negroes, and the wrongs of savage murderers — all 
combined and projected to plunder Spain of her provinces, 
and to spread massacre and devastation along the borders of 
the United States ? Is all this sufficient to cool the sympa- 
thies of his Catholic majesty's government, excited by th« eat- 



.'37 

edition of these two "subjects of a power in amity with the 
king?" The Spanish government is not at this day to he in- 
formed that, cruel as war, in its mildest forms, must be, it is, 
and necessarily must be doubly cruel, when waged with sava- 
ges ; that savages, make no prisoners, but to torture them ; 
that they give no quarter ; that they put to death without dis- 
crimination of age or sex ; that these ordinary characteristics 
of Indian warfare have been applicable, in their most hcart- 
sickening horrors, to that war, left us by Nicholls, as his leg- 
acy, re-instigated by Woodbine, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 
and stimulated by the approbation, encouragement, and the 
aid of the Spanish commandant at St. Marks. Is proof requir- 
ed ? Intreat the Spanish minister of state, for a moment, to 
overcome the feelings which details like these must excite, and 
to reflect if possible, with composure, upon the facts stated in 
the following extracts from the documents enclosed : 

Letter from sailing master Jarius Loomis, to commodore 
Daniel T. Patterson, I3th August, 1816, reporting the de- 
struction of the negro fort. 

** On examining the prisoners, they stated that Edward 
Daniels, 0. S. who was made prisoner in the boat, on the 17th 
July, was tarred and burnt alive." 

Letter from Archibald Clarke to general Gaines, 26tlt 
Feb. 1817. 

" On the 24th inst. the house of Mr. Garrett, residing in 
the upper part of this county, near the boundary of Wayne 
county, (Georgia) was attacked, during his absence, near the 
middle of the day, by this party, (of Indians) consisting of 
about fifteen, who shot Mrs. Garrett in two places, and then 
despatched her by stabbing and scalping. Her two chii'ien, 
one about three years, and the other two months old, were al- 
so murdered, and the eldest scalped ; the house was then plun- 
dered of every article of value, and set on fire." 

Letter from Peter B. Cook (Arbuthnot's clerk) to Eliz. A. 
Carney, at Nassau, dated Suwahneo, 19th Jan. 1818, giving 
an account of their operations with the Indians, against the 
Americans, and their massacre of lieut. Scott and his party. 

"There was a boat that was taken by the Indians, and had 
in it thirty men, seven women, four small children. There 
were six of the men got clear, and one woman saved, and all 
the rest of them got killed. The children were took by the 
leg, and their brains dashed out against the boat." 

If the bare recital of scenes like these cannot be perused 
without shuddering, what must be the agonized feelings of 
those whose wives and children are, from day to day, and from 
*ight tonight, exposed to be the victims of the same barbarity 3 



58 

Has mercy a voice to jilcatl for the perpetrators and instiga 
tors of deeds like 1isc.se? Should enquiry hereafter he made, 
why, within three months after this event, the savage Hamath- 
3i Micco, upon b< in;; taken hy the American troops, was, hy 
order of their commander, immediately hung, let it he told, 
that that savage was the commander of the party by which 
those women were butchered, and those helpless infants were 
thus dashed ag ainst the boat. Contending with such enemies, 
although humanity revolts at entire retaliation upon them, 
and spares the lives of the feeble and defenceless women and 
children, yet mercy herself surrenders to retributive justice 
the lives of their leading warriors taken in arms — and still 
more the lives of the foreign, white incendiaries, who disown- 
ed by their own governments, and disowning their own na- 
tures, degrade themselves beneath the savage character, by 
voluntarily descending to its level. Is not this the dictate of 
common sense ? Is it not the usage of legitimate warfare ? Is 
it "not consonant to the soundest authorities of national law? 
•'*' When at war (says Vattel) with a Ferocious nation, which 
observes no rules and grants no quarter, they may be chas- 
tised in the persons of those of them who may be taken 5 they 
are of the number of the guilty ; and by this rigor the attempt 
may he made of bringing them to a sense of the laws of hu- 
manity." And again : ** As a general has tiie right of sacri- 
ficing the lives of his enemies to his own safety or that of his 
people, if he has to contend with an inhuman enemy, often 
guilty of some excesses, he may take the lives of some of his 
prisoners, and treat them as his own people have been treat- 
ed.*' The justification of these principles is found in their sal- 
utary efficacy, for terror and for example. — It is thus only that 
the barbarities of Indians can he successfully encountered. It 
is thus only that the worse than Indian barbarities of Europe- 
an impostors, pretending authority from their governments, 
but always disavowed, can be punished and arrested. Great 
Britain yet engages the alliance and co-operation of savages 
in war. But her government has invariably disclaimed all 
countenance or authorization to her subjects to instigate them 
against us in time of peace. Yet so it has happened, that 
from the period of our established independence to this day. 
ail the Indian wars with which we have been afflicted, have 
been distinctly traceable to the instigation of English traders 
or agents, always disavowed, yet always felt, more than once 
detected, but never before punished. Two of them, offenders 
of the deepest dye, after solemn warning to their government, 
and individually to one of them, have fallen, flagrante delicto, 
into the hands of an American general * and the punishment 



39 

inflicted upon tliem has fixed them on high ns an example, aw 
ful in its exhibition, but, \vc trust, auspicious in its results, of 
that which awaits unauthorised pretenders of European agen- 
cy, to stimulate, and interpose in wars between the United 
States and Indians, within their control. 

This exposition of the origin, the causes, and the character 
of the war with the Seminole Indians and part of the Creeks, 
combined with McGregor's mock patriots and Nicholl's Ne- 
groes, which necessarily led our troops into Florida, and gave 
rise to all those incidents of which Mr. Pizarro so vehemently 
complains, will, it is hoped, enable you to present other and 
sounder views of the subject to his Catholic majesty's govern- 
ment. It will enable you to show that the occupation o!*Pcn- 
sacola and St. Marks was occasioned neither by a spirit of 
hostility to Spain, nor with a view to extort prematurely, 
the province from her possession ; that it was rendered neces- 
sary by the neglect of Spain to perform her engagements of 
restraining the Indiana iWm hostilities against the United 
States, *«<* by the culpable countenance, encouragement and 
assistance given to those Indians in their hostilities, by the 
Spanish governor and commandant at those places: That 
the United States have a right to demand, as the president 
does demand, of Spain the punishment of those officers for 
this misconduct ; and he further demands of Spain a just and 
reasonable indemnity to the United States for the heavy and 
necesssary expenses which then have been compelled to incur, 
by the failure of Spain to perform her engagement, to re- 
strain the Indians, aggravated by this demonstrated complici- 
ty of her commanding otBcers with them in their hostilities 
against the United States : That the two Englishmen execu- 
ted by the order of general Jackson were not only identified 
with the savages, with whom they were carrying on the Avar 
against the United States, but that one of them was the mo- 
ver and fomented of the war, which, without his interference 
tod fahepro:; the Indians of support from the British 

rtunent, ni ould have happened — that the other was 

ar against Spain as well as the United 
com'mi by McGregor, and expedited by "Wood- 

tject of conquering Florida with these 
Indians and negroes : That, as accomplices of the savages, 
and, sinning against their better knowledge, worse than s;n 
ages, general Jackson, possessed of their persons and of the 
proofs of their guilt, might, by the lawful and ordinary usages 
af war, have hung them both without the formality of a trial : 
That, to allow them every possible opportunity of refuting 
the proofs, or of showing any circumstance in extenuation of' 



40 

their crimes, he gave them the benefit of a court martial 6T 
highly respectable officers: That the defence of one consist- 
ed, solely and exclusively, of technical cavils at the nature of 
part of the evidence against him, and the other confessed his 
guilt. Finally, that, in restoring Pensacola and Si Marks 
to Spain, the president gives the most signal proofs of 1, is 
confidence, that hereafter her engagement to restrain, by 
force, the Indians of Florida from all hostilities against the 
United States, will be effectually fulfilled ; that there will be 
«o more murders, no more robberies within Our borders, by 
savages prowling along the Spanish line, and seeking shelter 
within it, to display in their villages the scalps of our women 
and children, their victims, and to sell, with shameless effron- 
tery, the plunder from our citizens in Spanish forts and ci- 
ties; that we will hear no more apologies from Spanish gover- 
nors and commandants, of their inability to perform the du- 
ties of their office and the solemn contracts of their countrv 

no more excuses for compliances to the savage enemies of "the- 
Unite;! States, from the dreuc ot inch attacks upon them- 
selves—no more harboring of foreign impostors, upon ««,,„_ 
pulsion ; that a strength sufficient will be kept in the pro- 
vince to restrain the Indians by force, and officers empow- 
ered and instructed to employ it effectually to maintain the 
good faith of the nation, by the effective fulfilment Of the treaty. ' 
The duty of this government to protect the persons and pro- 
perty of our fellow citizens, on the borders of the United 
States, is imperative — it must be discharged — and if, after all 
the warnings that Spain has had— if, after the prostration of all 
her territorial rights and neutral obligations, by Nicholls 
and his banditti, during the war, and of all her treaty stipu- 
lations, by Arbuthnot and Ambrister, abetted by her own 
commanding officers, during the peace, to the cruel annoyance 
of the United States — if the necessities of self defence should 
again compel the United States to take possession of the. 
Spanish forts and places in Florida, declare, with the candor 
and frankness that becomes us, that another unconditional 
restoration of them must not be expected ; that even the pre- 
sident's confidence in the good faith and ultimate justice of 
the Spanish government will yield to the painful experience 
of continual disappointment j and that, after unwearied and 
almost unnumbered appeals to them, for the performance of 
their stipulated duties, in vain, the United States will be re- 
luctantly compelled to rely, for the protection of their bor 
dcrs, upon themselves alone. 
I have the honor, &e. 

JOHN QUINCy ADAMS 



